Orange Chiffon Cake

This type of cake is more popular in Asia than the heavier buttered version we commonly have here. It is light and airy due to the beaten egg whites. To the unaccustomed, it can be a bit dry, and they’re often served unadorned. I like to have it with a nice cuppa.

Ingredients (for 8” angel cake pan)

5 egg yolks

20g castor sugar

60g vegetable oil

60g orange juice

grated zest of 1 orange

100g self raising flour

5 egg whites

75g castor sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

Method

1.          Preheat oven to 170C.

2.          Cream egg yolks, 20g sugar and oil until pale and thick.

3.          Add the orange juice and zest and beat well.

4.          Sift in the flour and mix well.

5.          In a clean dry bowl, whisk egg whites with the remaining sugar and cream of tartar until stiff peak.

6.          Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture to lighten it.

7.          Then carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites in batches.

8.          Pour into cake pan. (Do not grease sides of pan)

9.          Lightly tap the filled pan once or twice on the bench to get rid of big air bubbles.

10.      Bake for 35minutes in 170C oven.

11.      Tilt the pan upside down on a baking rack to cool.

12.      When cool use a knife to loosen the sides, tap the base to drop the cake out.

Japanese Cotton Soft Cake

If you like the Japanese cheesecake, you will like this non cheese version. This is a really fluffy light cake, not heavy in calories too I might add. This recipe is for a small cake, I used a loaf pan and it’s still too big, hence the cake ended up a bit flat. Next time I might try it in a muffin pan for small individual cakes. I used a water bath so the cake doesn’t dry out.  This recipe is again from Jane's Corner.

Ingredients

30g butter

40g self raising flour

40g milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs separated

40g castor sugar

Method

1.          Preheat oven to 170C.

2.          Melt butter, then stir in the flour immediately to make a smooth paste.

3.          Lightly beat the egg yolks with milk and vanilla essence, then pour into the butter/flour paste and mix thoroughly.

4.          Beat egg whites with sugar until stiff peak.

5.          Add 1/3 of it into the egg yolk mixture to lighten the batter.

6.          Then carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites in batches.

7.          Pour into greased and lined cake pan. Tap once to get rid of big air bubbles.

8.          Sit the cake pan in a water bath and bake 8 minutes on 170C, then remove water bath and continue baking another 20 minutes.

Black Forrest Swiss Roll

This is my first ever successful attempt at Swiss roll. All my previous attempts ended up in disaster, they either were too dry and broke into three when I rolled it, or too gluggy and heavy. I’m so glad I found this perfect formula now. The recipe is from my old high school friend Jane’s Corner. (PS: she is such a whiz in the kitchen isn’t she?) the black forrest idea was due to the fact that I have half a bottle of sour Morello cherries sitting in the fridge.

Ingredients

For the sponge:

85g of egg yolk (about 5)

25g castor sugar

45g milk

45g vegetable oil

65g self raising flour

20g cocoa powder

170g of egg whites (from 5 large eggs)

80g castor sugar

Filling

200g thickened cream

20g icing sugar

2 tbsp of Kirsch

½ cup of drained sour Morello cherries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190C.

2. Grease a Swiss roll pan and line it with non stick baking paper.

3. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites and sugar on high speed till stiff peak. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolk and sugar till thick and creamy. Add in milk and oil, then sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Mix until even.

5. Add in 1/3 of the stiff egg white mix into the egg yolk mixture to lighten it.

6. Then slowly and gently fold in the rest of the beaten egg white in batches.

7. Pour into the baking pan. Tap pan to expel big air bubbles.

8. Turn the oven down to 160C.

9. Bake for 12 minutes.

10. Let it cool just slightly in pan, then turn it over onto a large rectangle of non stick baking paper on top of a cake rack to cool until it’s safe to handle.

11. Peel off the lining paper. While still hot, gently and loosely roll the sponge with the aid of the rectangle of baking paper.

12. Let it cool in the rolled up position.

13. In the meantime, beat the cream with Kirsch and icing sugar till stiff.

14. When cool, unroll the sponge, spread with the beaten cream.

15. Sprinkle on the cherries, and roll it up again.

16. Wrap it in the baking paper and leave in the fridge for an hour before cutting.

Mango Coconut Muffins

This is a light summery version of my T&T muffin recipe.  I used fresh mango in this recipe.

Ingredients (makes 12 medium size)
1 cup diced mango flesh

½ cup desiccated coconut

1 ½  cup self raising flour

1 egg

¾ cup castor sugar

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup yoghurt

¼ cup milk

Method

1.          Preheat oven to 170C fan force.

2.          Sift flour into a large bowl.

3.          Add sugar and coconut.

4.          Stir in lightly beaten egg, yoghurt and oil.

5.          Add in the diced mango, set aside 12 pieces to decorate the top.

6.          Add milk as required. The mix should reach a drop consistency.

7.          Spoon into muffin tin, top with the reserved piece of mango, and bake for 15 mins in a 170C oven.

Coming Up In February

My sincere apologies to my followers for a long no post hiatus. A combination of factors have prevented the cooking and blogging. My camera died, my mixer went caput, and I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands. DH has bought a new close up lens while the other one is still in hospital. I bought a new mixer. My hands are no better but I'm surviving by improvising in minimizing stirring and mixing.

I don't have any idea what the cooking plans are for the month. It's going to be a "see how I feel" month I'm afraid, please bear with me.